The present invention is directed to a method for directional prediction of a picture block composed of pixels, in particular for the intra prediction of picture blocks greater than 4×4 pixels in size.
It is made known in reference [1], http://standard.pictel.com/ftp/video-site/0109 San/, in particular on pages 9 through 11, that video coding standard H.26L entails carrying out intra prediction on 4×4 pixel blocks or 16×16 pixel blocks. “Intra prediction” means that only that information about an actual picture that was previously transmitted is used to generate a prediction signal (e.g., the first picture in a video sequence is always “intra” coded). According to [1], six modes are available for 4×4 prediction. These modes differ in terms of the direction from which prediction takes place. In this process, the pixels on the edge of previously predicted (coded) neighboring picture blocks are used for prediction.